Some stories are so crazy that no one will believe they happened to us. But sometimes, we have stories that are so crazy we’re willing to take that risk. These are some of the nuttiest stories that ever happened to someone.
#1 Dad’s Appointment
When my mom was pregnant with me, she and my father divorced and he gave up all parental rights. I’ve never met him or spoken to him, I’ve only seen a few pictures. About two years ago, I worked at a healthcare facility where I would float to different offices around the county based on who needed the help.
This one particular morning, I was checking the doctor’s schedule and saw my father's name. He was scheduled to be in the office next door to where I was working. I thought it was pretty crazy, but I most likely wouldn’t even see him. The time of his appointment came and he walked into my office, straight up to me, and said he had an appointment.
My heart was racing because I knew it was him as soon as he walked through the door. I told him that the doctor was in the office next door. So, he left. A little while later, I walked over to the other office to deliver some faxes. On my way out, he trailed behind me and I held the door for him. He said thank you. That was my one and only interaction with my father in 30 years of living.
#2 Uncle’s Roommate
A few years ago, I was living in this bigger European city for some years. I went with a girl to a pub — since all the tables were full, we sat at the bar. There was an older guy sitting next to me who kind distracted me because he reminded me of my uncle. Mind you, my uncle was living in the U.S. for around 25 years already. He didn't look like that dude, nor did he act too similar. That bar guy just had some gestures that reminded me of him, mixed with the look of another distant relative.
So, the girl I was with goes to the bathroom and I couldn’t hold it back anymore. So, I looked that dude in the eyes and told him he reminded me of my uncle. He jokingly asks, "What's his name?" I told him and also revealed where he worked. Then the guy looked stunned and told me the names of my whole family. Turns out, he was the roommate of my uncle 30 years ago for about half a year.
#3 Sharing Dreams
Me and my brother are fraternal twins. My stepmom passed away due to breast cancer when we were around 15 years old. She was like a second mother to us and had been around since we were very young, around 5 years old. Now fast forward to our junior year of college. I attended a school in upstate NY while he attended a university in the state of Florida.
One night, I woke up in a sweat with tears coming down my eyes. I had the most vivid dream. I was in a house and my stepmother was there. I knew she had passed in this dream, which was a first for me. She hugged me, told me how handsome I had become, and that she loved me. I woke up drenched in sweat thinking, “What was that?” I didn’t say anything to anybody and went to class.
As I’m walked back to my apartment after class, I got a call from my brother. His first words were, “I know this is going to sound weird, but I had the most vivid dream about Maggie last night.” The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as he went on to describe the same dream I had just experienced the night prior.
#4 Need for Shortbread
My mum took strong sleeping pills on a flight we took together. We were having tea and biscuits and my mom kept nodding off with half-chewed shortbread hanging out of her mouth. The pills make you kind of dopey before you pass out. So, she was absolutely determined to finish this shortbread. I'd shake her awake, she'd chew once or twice, pass out again, rinse and repeat. The worst part was the snoring though. Little lady, big noise.
#5 Facebook Friends
I’m from a tiny province in the Philippines. I decided to work in Manila right after college, way back in 2007. I got into a call center and met a lot of friends. I stayed in the company for about two years, but the graveyard shift wasn’t for me. Fast forward to 2013 and my widowed mom got engaged in 2014 and married soon after. So, they decided to move back to France.
As they were planning their trip, I posted on social media about possible Filipino connections in France to help my mom transition well. A former colleague of mine from that call center in Manila sent me a message. She told me that she has this Filipina friend (let’s call her Rowena) who has been living in France for 20+ years now and that she may be able to help my mom. So, I told my mom to add Rowena on Facebook and connect with her. They did and they got into talking.
One day, my mom was Skyping with her, talking about their husbands, when my mom showed her a vintage photo of her husband when he was in university. It was an old photo of him sitting on a couch with his then-best friend, whom he had not seen since graduating. Career opportunities abroad and no cellphones during that time led to them growing apart.
As soon as Rowena saw the photo, she gasped. She said, “That’s my husband beside your husband!” She then hurriedly went to her office and took out the exact same photo, which her husband kept through the years as well. After a few shocks and tears, two long lost best friends were able to catch up after nearly 40 years.
#6 Making Friends
I work in a supermarket as a team leader. I'm quite social, so I like to include everyone who's new and make them feel comfortable. There was this new guy, around 17 years old, who was very quiet. He spoke only when spoken to and no one really tried to converse with him. However, I was very kind to him, though he wasn't really approachable at first.
Over the weeks, he came loose and was kind to me as well. Yet, no other co-workers did this. I didn’t give it a second thought, but I knew why when he quit after three months. Turned out, he had to do this as some kind of community service. He was a criminal and my cheap supermarket hired him because they only had to pay him half of the normal salary.
A year or so later, some dudes in a bar started a fight with me. It wasn’t a big deal until I went home. Five of them waited for me at the exit. I didn’t want my friend involved, so I just kept on walking away like they weren't there. They legit stopped me to beat me up. Suddenly, there he was, the guy from the supermarket with his friends.
I never felt so cool in my life. Six dudes around 21-25 years old came to my rescue because he was my “friend.” They threatened them and asked them, “Tell us why we shouldn't fight you right now.” I couldn’t thank him and his friends enough. After that, we went separate ways again. Sometimes I still see him and we give each other a nod.
#7 Check Meowt
A little while back my roommate was contacted by a wealthy man in the area who wanted to pay her to be his "live-in pet" for an entire month. She thought that this was a cutesy way of saying that it was a different kind of arrangement.
Turns out, what he actually meant was that she would be given room, board and a very healthy allowance to spend a large portion of her day dressed as a cat. She’d have to walk on her hands and knees, eat out of a bowl, use a litter box and, yes, sleep in a little cage at night. Relations weren’t even on the table; he was only interested in having a human-cat for a month. She seriously considered the offer for a weekend, and then politely declined.
#8 Korean School
I used to go to a Korean middle school, so physical punishment for any bad behavior was expected. One day, a few kids were talking in class, so our math teacher decided that we somehow all deserved to get punished. He told us to kneel on our desks and started hitting us on the thigh one by one. We all complained but figured we'd just get it done with and get back to class.
But, one of my classmates completely snapped. He got up and threatened the teacher. At that moment, I was genuinely afraid I was about to witness something awful. I was scared, but for some reason, every one of my classmates was laughing. I still don't understand why. Thankfully, there was no crime. The kid ran off to the front office because he realized he messed up, then came back begging for forgiveness.
Somehow, he never really ended up getting punished for what he did either. The police weren't called, there was no trial, not even a suspension. This student didn’t really have anything happen to him. He did get forced to transfer to a new school, but he didn't get hit with a single thing that would stay on his record.
#9 Flight School
When I was learning to fly at a sketchy flight school, I was doing a pre-flight check flight. This happened close to the end of the program. I was doing the run-up in a Cessna when I smelt something. "Do you smell that? Smells like gas," I said. The 21-year-old instructor just shrugged it off. Annoyed, I opened the door, and there was a spreading puddle of Av-gas under the plane.
The instructor panicked and said, "Stay in the plane, I'll get help!" Then he ran off. As soon as I got the engine off, I noped out of there and watched the plane dump all its fuel on the runway. They kindly gave me another plane and instructor. They “fixed” their plane and a month later, I read about the same plane crashing due to fuel issues. There was one fatality, but no significant repercussions for the company.
#10 Nature Rangers
When I was about 10, my family moved from the city to this small town in northern Australia. We started going to school and after a few weeks, we made friends with the other kids. They kept telling us about this club in town called the Nature Rangers. The way they described it, it sounded like some off-brand Boy Scouts with camping and hiking. They also said they gathered at their ranger hall on Fridays to have movie nights with popcorn and hotdogs. Me and my younger sister begged our parents to let us join, so on Friday night we got dropped off at the hall.
So, we lined up to go into the hall and all the kids were joking and laughing. They opened the doors and then we all started walking in. The whole mood shifted. All the kids immediately shut up. As I walked in, I looked up and on the walls were all these signs. “SINNERS MUST BURN,” “THE DEVIL IS COMING FOR YOU!”, “CHRIST IS YOUR ONLY SAVIOUR!” The one that stood out was this huge mural of Australia engulfed in flames, with only our northern town spared. It was an eye-opener for us city kids.
What happened next got weirder. It was something you see in movies about fanticals in the deep South of America. We sang these weird folk songs, listened to fire and brimstone sermons. We had to give our faith to the Lord. The one song that stuck out years later went, “He's under my feet. He's under my feet. Satan is under my feet.” The song was accompanied by a dance we had to learn. Me and my sister were looking at each other like, “When is this going to be over?”
After all of that, we were ushered outside. The boys and girls were separated. The girls were to stay at the hall, but the boys were off to go with this creepy looking old guy, who they called “Brother Joseph.” He was getting all the boys to get into his white van to take them for a drive. That's when I knew that enough was enough.
I snuck out of the line and silently got my sister and said we were going. By this time it was late at night, so we snuck into the dark. Our home was on the other side of town, so we slowly made our way home, creeping from yard to yard. Every time we saw car lights, we hid in trees or bushes. When we got about half a kilometer from home, I told my sister to leg it and we sprinted the whole way home.
We burst into our house and proceeded to tell our parents the entire thing. They always say they had never seen us so petrified. It's a story we laugh about now, but at the time it was dodgy. We lived in that town for another three months and the other kids never mentioned the Nature Rangers to us ever again.
#11 New Band
My Dad went to secondary school with John Lennon and was a couple of years older than him. Dad was known for playing the drums and being quite musical. One day, John asked him whether he'd like to be the drummer in a band he's forming. Dad was keen, but my grandma said he needed to prioritize studying, so he didn't join.
The band formed and was called The Quarrymen. I think a guy named Colin was the drummer instead of Dad, who I believe was later replaced by Pete Best and then Ringo as they changed to The Silver Beatles, and then The Beatles. I like to imagine that in an alternative universe, my Dad said yes and that was history. I don't even mind that I wouldn't have been born if this had been the outcome. He really deserved to have had that lifetime.
#12 New Sister
My dad is now 75. About two months ago, he found out he had a daughter that he never knew he had. The mother had a fling with him in college and gave the baby up without ever telling him. This all was revealed by ancestry.ca. My dad hasn't been this happy in years. I love my new sister, who’s around 50. I feel like I've known her my whole life. She has five new siblings in us and we all think she's awesome.
#13 Hitchhiking in Virginia
Years ago, I was hitchhiking north of Richmond Virginia when a car with two dudes picked me up. We got to chatting and it turns out they were headed to their friend's place to shoot bottles and asked me if I wanted to join. I asked if his friend would be okay with a random homeless-esque fellow and he said, "Aw, just pretend to be my cousin from Seattle."
So, instead of sitting on the highway in 100-degree weather, I spent an afternoon eating hamburgers, hitting bottles, and blowing stuff up with bags of tannerite on some random DoD employee's woodland property. Don't remember the guy’s name, but he was the man! All I can do is thank him for an awesome memory.
#14 Homeless Veteran
I met a homeless vet in Boston who was chilling at the bus station asking for change. He was pretty young but had seen a lot of combat. I didn't have any extra money, but I did print out two copies of my bus ticket. He spent about four days in Baltimore with me at my grandmother’s eating a bunch of dank food and sleeping in a real bed. This was all under the guise of him being my friend. I never talked to him again, but he was a really chill person.
#15 A Classic
I stole my own car back once. I used to restore classic cars. I had the most valuable one I’ve ever had at a body shop and he took forever to finish it. He had painted other cars for me, but apparently developed an addiction over the years. Anyway, I would check on the car every week to see if there was any progress.
Finally, after a year, he told me he painted 90% of it, but was asking for more money than we originally agreed. I drove there on a Friday afternoon unannounced and saw my car outside the shop (worth a ton of money) with the shop owner nowhere in sight. His neighbor told me he had left the car outside for three days and several people had tried to steal it.
So, I called a tow truck and had it towed it to my garage right away. On my home, the shop owner would not stop calling me. Seriously, he called me over and over again. Naturally, he thought somebody had actually managed to successfully take the car. That guy kept calling me for months, but I never responded.
#16 Attack of the Birds
I'm a pretty avid cyclist, which means whenever I have the time, I ride my bike away from the city into the mountainous suburbs to challenge myself up some of the local climbs. It was another one of these excursions. I had just ridden up and down a big mountain and was on the road headed back to the city centre.
I was fairly tired and still had 40 km to get back home. All of a sudden, I saw traffic on the opposite lane stopped for some reason. What I immediately saw next I was not prepared for. I saw an ostrich on my lane, in front of me, running after the car ahead. Slowly, I followed the ostrich, which was running after the car ahead, faced with a decision. Do I overtake the ostrich? Now I'm no expert on ostriches, but I do remember reading that ostriches run really quickly and they can be aggressive towards humans.
I didn’t want to become the victim of an ostrich attack, but I did want to get home quickly, as it was starting to get dark. After hesitating for a while, I gave it all I had and overtook the ostrich. I managed to get home unharmed. But to this day, it remains one of my most surreal experiences, running into an ostrich on a bike ride.
#17 Secret Room
About three years ago, me and three friends went trekking in Iceland. We decided to splurge and treat ourselves to an Airbnb in the city for the weekend and ended up in an apartment that was pretty nice. It did, however, have some really shady, scary and messed up paintings. There was a locked room that wasn't opened until the last day of our trip when two friends went to return a tent we borrowed from the host.
He wasn't home, but his girlfriend was. I guess she didn't understand that she shouldn't have left her boyfriend's Nazi room wide open (especially after hosting four Jewish people). We're talking Hitler portraits, books, flags, everything. Somehow the girls managed to take some pictures before running out of there.
#18 Oatmeal Man
My high school baseball team was traveling in a school bus from Louisville to Indianapolis for a tournament. This guy pulled up next to us on the freeway, waving and trying to get our attention. We thought it’s a parent or something, so we waved back. He made sure he had mine and my seat mate’s attention and then clipped his shirt collar to his steering wheel with some sort of homemade device, leaving a big opening.
He then proceeded to grab two two-gallon buckets of what I only hope was cooked oatmeal. He started pouring all of it into the big opening in his shirt he made. Everyone on our bus, including coaches, were screaming in confusion as this man was swerving down the freeway. Then, he reached into his shirt, took a handful, and smeared it all over his face. He did this all while laughing and waving.
Last but not least, he finally unhooked his shirt and it snapped to his neck, flinging oatmeal all over his windshield and driver’s side window. He then casually waved goodbye to us, got off at the next exit, and we never saw the oatmeal man again. This is by far my favorite thing that has ever happened to me.
#19 Paying a Visit
I’ve always believed my grandma came back to visit me in a dream a few years after she passed. It was in my room and she sat on the edge of the bed. I said to her, “Grandma, you can’t be here.” She laughed and laughed, told me she missed me, was proud of me, and we hugged. I woke up, gobsmacked at how vivid it was. I’m still moved thinking about it to this day.
#20 Face Plant
A few years ago, I'd go to college in the morning and leave at midnight because I didn't have a PC and needed to work on homework at school. One time on the last train ride home, we were coming into the last station where I'd get off. There was this Asian guy acting a bit strange the whole ride. He suddenly got up and stood in the middle of the car.
As the train brakes coming into the station, he fell flat on his face from a full standing position. He just laid there until the trains stopped, stood up, dusted himself off and walked out of the open doors like nothing happened. I saw this guy doing it five separate times and since I was used to it at that point, I enjoyed looking out for the uninitiated riders' reactions.
#21 Cat Burglar
I've never stolen a cat. I'm actually allergic to cats so I can't even have a cat. Despite this, I've been accused of stealing three separate cats on three separate occasions by three different people. One guy threatened to hurt me for stealing his cat, but I didn't steal his cat. Now that was a wild Thanksgiving.
#22 Special Delivery
I (26) am adopted. I have nothing to do with my biological family save for a half brother, who I reconnected with last year. We're friends on Facebook. About a year and a half ago, I spent six months as a pizza delivery driver. While there I met a man, probably in his 50s or so. We got along. He was a driver just for something to do since he's retired now.
I quit the job six months in, but a couple of months ago, I went back and the guy was still there. A week ago, my brother tagged me on Facebook as well as my co-worker. A few days later, I asked my co-worker how he knew my brother. We found out that the co-worker is actually my uncle by marriage. Or was. He was married to my biological mom's sister for some 20 years, until their divorce a couple of years back.
The guy used to babysit me when I was just a baby. He even had pictures of my brother and biological mom, which he gave to me. He's currently looking for baby pictures of me because I don't have any from before I was adopted. I know that my mom and dad would be super happy if he could ever find some to show us.
#23 Pick Up Sticks
I was picking up sticks around my parents' house with my brother. I threw a stick on the pile when one of the little branches pierced my inner forearm through and through. I looked down, befuddled, not knowing what to do. I tried pulling it out, but things moved too much. I finally got the courage to give a big yank and out it came. Surprisingly not a big mess from the holes.
#24 Fire in the Sky
Me and my friend were bored and decided to go skating at 1:00 a.m. We ended up in a car park and started talking all about scary stories and stuff when, out of nowhere, we noticed a fireball in the sky. We stopped speaking and watched in amazement about what we were witnessing. Just then, all the light we could see suddenly went out and the fireball was gone. I don’t think either of us have run so fast in our lives.
#25 Test Drive
I've had customers steal cars that my father and I restored. I once had a guy "test drive" a 38 Ford delivery that we did for him. We never saw him or the car ever again. We had another guy attempt to steal a Corvette C3 that we swapped an ls7 into. The only way we caught him was that it blew a radiator hose on the interstate about 20 miles away on a "test drive." These people were supposedly respectable and had the money to pay us. They obviously didn't.
#26 Moving Away
My baby sister is 18 and let me know that she was dropping out of school and moving to England with her boyfriend who can't even boil water. She's crippled from past injuries and depressed. I tried to talk her out of it since she can't afford to take care of herself both mentally and financially. However, she replied that she made up her mind already and was fine with living in poverty. We live in Finland where she gets mental health services for free and can get government funding for getting better. But, she still believes that living in poverty in a land where she only knows one person will make her life better.
#27 Nubs the Cat
About 19 years ago, three-year-old me, my mom and dad came home to find our cat Nubs missing. The entire family turned the entire apartment upside down but no trace of our cat was found. My mom decided to make missing flyers even though all the doors were locked at the time. Days turned into weeks, then into months.
She finally came to terms with the fact that her cat was gone and disappeared. Cut to last year, though. My grandma, out of the blue, said she lost Nubs. She said while we were out shopping, she decided to go to the mall across the street and took my baby stroller to hold extra bags. While she was in the middle of the mall, Nubs, unbeknownst to her, woke up and jumped out of the bottom mesh pouch under the seat. My grandma, being too nervous and scared to ask for help, just left the store and our cat there.
#28 Huge Mistake
When I was 22, I had an internship for the Buffalo Wild Wings marketing department. I was also running a lot at this time. Every time I would leave for a run, I would text my girlfriend that I was leaving for a run, just so someone knew where I was. I then got a text from her mid-run asking for a "special" picture when I got back. I agreed. Then I get a text from my female boss making sure I sent out some paperwork (which I did).
I got home and I don’t even want to take this stupid picture, I just want to shower. But I remove my clothing and take a bathroom mirror selfie from head to kneecap. I then sent it with a kissing face emoji. An hour later, I got a text from my girlfriend that said, "Did you forget my special picture :(" And I'm thinking, "No, I sent that."
So, I go into my texts and… oh no. I sent the picture to my boss. My heart sank straight into the abyss. I immediately tried to do damage control and said it was not meant for her. I also apologized and even screenshotted the convo from my girlfriend to show it was a mistake. No response. I went into the office the next day, was called into HR, and was fired. It sucked, I had a great gig going.
#29 At Least There’s Chicken
My parents are blind optimists. Like, it’s to a fault at this point. They don’t seem to think that anything bad will happen to anyone in our family. One day, I got jumped by some losers in a gang. I went home and told my parents. They looked at me and said, “Well, there’s fried chicken in the oven.” Unbelievable. I was 14.
#30 Sweet Revenge
There was a politician who hit on my brother's girlfriend way back. He was married even. He was also, like, 40 and she was about 21. My brother always hated that guy, though he was in power for 20 years. My dad campaigned for the candidate that beat him and went door-to-door for weeks. The candidate never would have won if it wasn’t for Dad. He won by approximately 30 votes. Dad never knew about the incident involving my brother, but it felt like sweet revenge.
#31 Some Vacation
During summer vacation in 2000, I was alone at home playing video games. I had this stranger knock on my door asking for an address. While I told him that I didn’t know of the address he was looking for, he asked me for a glass of water. Being the naive 11-year-old idiot I was, I left the door open and went into the kitchen to get it. The guy then proceeded to invite himself in and locked the door.
Over the next two hours, I sat there looking scared and dumb while he searched my place for anything valuable he could carry in broad daylight without suspicion. However, finding nothing, he left. All the time I was scared as to how to explain to my mom what happened to the video game he took. I haven’t told anyone.
#32 Pizza’s Pizza
I was once on the bus on my way home. Suddenly, this big guy came storming down to the front of the bus. He then planted himself down and proceeded to pull a raw Sainsburys pizza out of his bag. He then started eating the entire thing, including the uncooked dough, in under five minutes. I didn’t know what to do.
#33 Parental Duties
My ex-girlfriend was pregnant with her other ex-boyfriend's kid the first time I met her in person. She decided that I was going to raise this kid whether I liked it or not. For context, I was 14 and she was 16. I was only going to be with her for a few weeks because I went to a summer camp near her city. I kept on telling her that I wasn’t taking this much responsibility for a kid who’s not even mine. She then threatens me because of how unwilling I was.
I decided that I could try to diffuse the situation by trying to get her to consider adoption. This is when she really lost it. She took a couple of swings, but I was able to leave mostly unscathed. A few days after I had left, I texted her and apologized for being inconsiderate. She apologized for trying to force into such a hectic situation. We talked and she realized that adoption was going to be the only real option for her. She had the kid safely and I have yet to hear from her since his birth.
#34 Giraffe Spotting
My brother and I had visited our sister in Utah and were driving back to California. It was about three in the morning and we had been driving for 12 hours, but were nearly home. We hadn't taken that freeway home before, so things were a little unfamiliar. But, they had been perfectly normal so far. As I drove, my brother looked out his window and suddenly started freaking out. He turned around in his seat, craning his neck to see out the back window.
"Is that a giraffe?!" he shouted. I said, "What?!" and he went, "It is! It’s a giraffe!” He thought it was a statue at first because why would there be a giraffe right next to the freeway? But, no. It was an actual, live giraffe. I looked up the city we were driving through later and sure enough, there was a small zoo right where we'd been.
We both laughed so hard we cried. We were exhausted and hysterical over this. It was just the shock of seeing a giraffe when you didn't expect to. Like, normally you'd have to go out of your way to see one. You generally only see a giraffe under very specific circumstances and driving on a freeway in the dead of night is not one of them.
#35 Mom’s the Word
I just found out last week that my manager is addicted to something pretty heavy. She never came off as the kind of person who would do it, but yup. She’s a 30-year old-mom who does this kind of stuff. I can't tell anyone I know because I don't want to get her fired, but I need to tell someone this crazy stuff is happening!
#36 Chinese Bible
I'm from Hong Kong, and still under 20. Four years ago, I was a host family of an exchange student from Italy. Then, two years ago, me and my family went to Italy and visited her hometown. She then showed me to a local church. Seeing that we’re the first Chinese family that visited the place, the church decided to show us a “mysterious book” that they discovered.
I took a look and found out instantly that it was a Chinese Bible. The church stated that the book was found in the 15th century, after an earthquake. However, after I took a photo of it (which they allowed) and did some research with my friend, it was actually printed in Hong Kong in 1865. There were also no earthquakes at the church after the year.
#37 Cool Sheep
I lived on a big property and grew some stuff down the back fence. We also had sheep. I came home and my four shoulder-height plants were gone. All of the sheep were passed out on the back porch. I had 15 minutes to get all these sheep down the back behind the shed before my mom got home. I loaded them on the lawnmower trailer, one at a time. My mom didn’t notice anything when she got home. Two weeks later, my mom asked me what happened to my plants out the back. I told her and she laughed.
#38 That’s My Bike
My friend and I went into a food and drink place to grab a table once. The waiter came over and greeted us. He asked if we've booked, which we hadn’t. He then proceeds to ask us what kind of food we were after because he has recommendations all over the city where we could go. Just as we're thinking about it, he says, "Hold on, that's my bike" and runs out of the door. We're a little baffled, but wait a few seconds before deciding to just leave and find another spot to grab dinner. We walked out the door just in time to see a guy throw this waiter’s bike straight into the canal.
#39 Paint the Town Red
I partied pretty hard one Friday night, so at about midnight I took myself home and passed out on my bed. An indeterminate period of time later, I was roused from my stupor by a furious knocking on my bedroom door. I staggered to my feet and opened the door. In front of me were four people I had never seen before. Three of them were completely red - faces, clothes, hands, shoes, and the fourth is a paramedic.
I went full goldfish with my mouth opening and closing, but no sound coming out. These strange people told me that "she" was my responsibility now and left. My roommate had gone out and gotten even more partied out than me. She hadn't made it up the third floor and had passed out halfway in the door to our apartment building. The red people found her and called the ambulance. There was red paint on every lightswitch in the house the following day.
#40 First Earthquake
When I was seven, I was in the bathroom. Then, for some reason an earthquake happened. So, naturally, I ran out of the toilet, but I didn’t have any clothing on. I ran out of the house while dropping a number two all over the place because I was panicking too hard. That was the first earthquake that I witnessed myself.
#41 Pizza Boy
One time, my girlfriend and her friend, let’s call her Molly, were hanging out and ordered a pizza. Their other friend, let’s call her Anne, was coming over shortly. It was snowing out, with about an inch of fresh coverage on the ground. The pizza arrived, and about 20 minutes later, so did Anne. Anne came in and was like, “Sweet, I’m just in time.”
My Girlfriend and Molly go, “What do you mean? The pizza got here 20 minutes ago.” Anne then said, “No, I just saw the driver leave.” They were immediately spooked and went outside where they found footprints in the snow all around the back section of the house. There were patches below and around windows where the guy had clearly stood for a while. When he dropped off the pizza, he was being normal, but asking what they were up to. They were just sketched out, so didn’t get cops involved. What a creep!
#42 Flying Coach
I met my significant other on a plane, flying Bangkok to Doha. I was downgraded when my better seat upgrade fell through. I got placed in the third to last row. It was annoying, but I hit off with the Spanish girl next to me. Three weeks later on a whim, I flew from the States to Spain to meet her. Three weeks after that, I moved there. We just hit our two-year anniversary and are celebrating the birth of our first child.
#43 Traveling Companion
They took a worm out of my shoulder. It was there for two months. It's probably from Bolivia and travelled all of Argentina and Chile with me until I took it out at the hospital in Chile. It was the most disturbing five hours of my life from when I found out that my "infected" wound was inhabited by a parasitic worm until I got to the hospital. And the worm itself was disgusting as well.
#44 Emperor Palpatine
When I was 19-20 ish, I was waiting for a bus when a well-spoken man in his 60s began chatting to me. I awkwardly nodded and smiled like the gangly idiot that l was. He eventually got onto the subject of him and his wife hosting dinners and how I should definitely come around some time. I got more and more anxious as the conversation went on.
He eventually started complimenting me on my shirt, reached out to stroke the fabric and then reached between the buttons to stroke my stomach. In the street. At a public bus stop. I got on the next (wrong) bus, rode a few stops to gather my thoughts and then made my way home. The icing on the cake? He looked just like Ian McDiarmid. Palpatine tried to touch me.
#45 Grabbing Dinner
I was fishing with some friends at a small neighborhood pond and decided to feel the water with my hand. Not quite sure why I did it, but it was nice so I splashed around in the water for a few more minutes. There I was, sitting at the edge of the water, when suddenly this huge slimy mass glided against my palm.
Out of instinct, I grabbed it and pulled the biggest bass I had ever seen out of the water. (In retrospect, it couldn't have been more than five or six pounds). From the perspective of my friends, it looked like I was feeling around the water for a fish, and then being able to snatch the catch of the day out of the water with nothing but bare hands and skill.
#46 Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Last year I drove to Las Vegas with the intention of working at a music festival, then parking my car at a friend's house and flying to Oakland after. There, I'd rent a car, drive to Napa to work another one, then fly back to Vegas and drive back to LA. I missed my flight to Oakland by 20 minutes. My car had a major issue and I had to find a last minute mechanic that could take it.
There were no more flights to the region that day, so I flew to Fresno, took a Lyft to Amtrak, took the three-hour trip to Oakland and called an Uber. I then picked up my car (it was a simple Turo rental), and then drove to Napa. I somehow made it to Napa at 1:00 a.m. and started work at 9:00 a.m. the next day.
#47 Last Goodbye
I fell asleep and had a dream about having to leave urgently due to the bad neighborhood we lived in. As I was packing to leave, I called for my cat. I told her to pack her food and toys. I told her again, but this time she came into the room and instead of my cat, it was this beautiful woman. I knew that she was my cat, though.
She then told me she had to leave too, elsewhere. She proceeded to hug me, told me she loved me and said we'd see each other again. I just remember feeling content, understanding and calm. I also recall thinking that it was the best hug I have ever received in my life. I also said goodbye and that I loved her. Soon after, I woke up and immediately thought I should check up on her. Sadly, I found her sprawled out underneath my sister's bed. She wasn't rigid and just slightly warm, so she had passed not too long before my dream.
#48 Florida Panther
I live in a relatively big city in Florida. My niece was scheduled for surgery at 6:00 a.m., so I was going to meet up with my family at about 3:00 a.m. I was driving past a huge veterans' center and caught something in the corner of my right eye. I thought it was a dog about to run in front of my car, so I slowed to a stop.
Instead of a dog, a Florida panther ran in front of my car, across the street, jumped the short wall surrounding the Vets center, and ran into the surrounding woods. The best part was it had a cub in its mouth. The area I live in is not rural whatsoever. We get coyotes pretty frequently, but not much else in the wild department. Where this panther came from and what happened to it is still a mystery. I just sat not moving for like a minute trying to comprehend what just happened. It’s still one of the strangest things that happened to me.
#49 Bin Shots
Back in high school, we were leaning over the third floor balcony with a bin at the bottom of it. My whole class watched as one of the guys tossed a bottle off and just missed the bin. Everyone was so let down and disappointed, but then we saw it bouncing back up, back spinning and it landed straight in the bin. It was unbelievable. To this day, that is that guy’s single greatest life achievement.
#50 Dog Whisperer
My dog ran out into oncoming traffic one day in winter. It wasn an Ottawa winter, so think icy conditions. I ran out to save him but didn’t notice there was a big school bus coming at the same moment. I stretched my hand out as though my palm could save us from dying and yelled, “Stop!” I must’ve looked crazy because I know my face was angry and not scared. The bus managed to stop and I picked my dog up and ran away. It was all very fast and it would’ve sucked if one of us got hit, but we didn’t and I felt like a superhero. It was dumb, but I was a teen fuelled by dog love.
